The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report has finally revealed that as much as 15.28 lakh crore of the high-value currency that was demonetised in November returned to the central bank.
“Subject to future corrections, based on the verification process when completed, the estimated value of SBNs [specified bank notes] received as on June 30, 2017, is 15.28 trillion,” the RBI said in a report released on Wednesday.
Intense scrutiny
The central bank was under intense scrutiny since January — after the window for depositing the withdrawn 500 and 1,000 banknotes had closed — for details on the extent of currency that was returned to the RBI in the wake of the government’s sudden decision to withdraw high-value banknotes as a means to combating counterfeiting, black money and the financing of terrorist activities.
The latest RBI data showed that 98.96% of the withdrawn currency — at the time of demonetisation the value of old 500 and 1,000 notes in circulation was 15.44 lakh crore — was deposited with the banks.
Separately, the data showed that the share of the newly introduced 2,000 banknotes in the total value of currency in circulation was 50.2% at end-March 2017.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday that the confiscation of money was never the objective of the demonetisation exercise. “That people have been compelled to deposit even black money into banks is itself a good evidence of its [success].”
source:the hindu